The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-03-09
BRUTAL CONTESTS.


part angel. He unites in himself the
basilar and the supernal, the higher and
the lower qualities of the world of good
and evil. Physically he has much in com.
mon with the brute creation; has similar
organs-heart, lungs, and stomach; sees
and hears like other animals, and eats the
same food and breathes the same air. Man
is differentiated from the higher mammalia
by his upright form, his finer and more ex-
pressive features; and most of all Is he
above them in having a larger brain and a
moro delicate nervous system. Through
these he rises to the plane of reason, of a
progressive and improbable intellect, and
to the God consciousness that relates him
to the divine, to truth, right reciprocity,
honor, mercy, and love, and all the noble
sentiments and principles that go to make
up our conceptions of the Deity.
IL may not be, and, / suppose, is not, the
most desirable or comfortable condition or
form of being in which 10 exist, and yet it
Is precisely the one in which we do exist.
And herein is found the explanation of the
strange conflict that is forever going on be-
tween the higher and the lower, both in the
individual and in the social order. Each
one is conscious of this struggle that is GO
ing on within himself, the struggle between
the desires of the flesh and the spirit, the
appetites and passions struggling for the
ascendency over reason and right, clamor-
ing for qualification, and to rush often into
exsesses. but held in check by the better
Judgment of the mind and the diviner i'm
pulses of the heart and the powerful re-
straints of conscience. THE flesh iusts,
or strives, against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh, and these are contrary,
the one TO the other"
These inner and personal conflicts, COM
ing out into the open and larger field of So
ciety, explain the social conflicts of man in
all ages. As the victory is won within, men
arrange themselves along the opposing
lines of TEMPERANCE or intemperance, puri-
ty or impurity, justice or injustice kind
ness or cruelty, as they are drawn without.
And hence the whole scene of life is of the
nature of a contest-a contest between the
true and the false, the good and the evil,
the animal and the angel-nature of man.
In the business and the social world,
these contests may take the form of COM
petitions; and generally such competitions
are honorable and hence not to be con-
demned. Men put their intelligence, their
skill, their acquisitiveness and industry
over against each other, and thereby bring
out the higher and stronger qualities. And
all this may be done inside the sentiments
and principles of true manhood, and lead
70 larger common good.
While we are sin the body, or conditioned
proper to care for the body, and not wrong
to nationally enjoy such pleasures as the
senses can afford. We may go further,
and say that it is duty to care for the
physical, and not wrong to delight in the
physical perfection of the body; to rejoice
in its beauty, and strength, and powers of
endurance. And hence we may go still
further, and say that We should be slow to
condemn the many forms of athletic sports
or games that conduce to such develop
ment, such as running, jumping, wrestling
and boxing
The converted pugilist, Ben Hogan, said
in public address that he believed that
frst-class and well-managed gymnasium
would do more for the rising generation In
! Chicago than any two or three of its best
churches and yet Mr.. Hogan is a profound
believer in the churches and in religion.
He said, further that of the ten thousand
men taking lessons every year in the box
ing schools of the country, not one had
entered the ring" as a result of such
training. He considered manly sports as
conducive to healthy bodies and sound
minds, and good morals. And in these
sports, competitive exercises, or contests,
form almost necessary part OF the pleas
urable excitements that give them their
great interest and value.
But it is easy to see how honorable COM
| petitions in business, and the physical con-
tests of the gymnasium, and the games in
which men delight, may drop down to the
distinctively animal plane; may become
coarse and brutal, and unworthy of being
possessed of reason and conscience.
What would we think-what do we think
of the INSCRIPTIONS mar in business, or in
politics, who has no regard for the rights
and interests of others? We say that he is
brute; that he lacks the feelings of a man;
that he will wrong the widow and the or
phan, and trample others down, if only he
can himself succeed.
| And upon the same line men may debase
and brutalize every manly sport. Instead
of making wrestling and boxing exhibitions
of science, of physical culture and strength
and activity, they may be degraded to
beastly contests. And such, we are sorry
to be compelled to say, have been the dis
! gushing character of not few OF the pub
lie contests witnessed in our city in the last
few years. Such was the scene when a
year ago Evan Lewis strangled the Japan
ese wrestler, Matsadi Sorakichi, and lit
tie later tried to twist his leg off; and such
was the scene when Joe Acton and this
same Lewis met the other night under the
| published rules that permit choking, and
kicking, and twisting. and breaking arms
and legs. The difference between this and
dog fight or a bull-fght is mainly in the
fact that dogs and bulls have less intelli-
gence than these brutes in human form;
but this only makes such human contests
the more brutal.
How much, if any, better is this than the
bloody scenes in the Coliseum at Rome
two thousand years ago, where gladiators
fought TO the death, or were compelled to
fight with lions and tigers? And yet this is
in America, and in the nineteenth century,
How much, if any, worse would it be to
turn these human demons" and "stran-
gers," these chokers and leg breakers,
loose with tomahawks or butcher-knives
and permit them to chop and cut each other
to pieces? And scarcely less inhuman is 1t
TO permit men to pound each other until
they are unable TO stand; or to walk for
days and nights until their feet and legs are
blistered and swollen, and they can only
stagger around the track. Such exhibitions
are not only brutal, but they tend to brutal
ize the age and the people who permit
and encourage them; and they lower and
disgrace the manly sports that should COM
mand the public respect
Over against this cat, this dog, this wolf,
this tiger, this lion, this snake-nature from
which some of our race have not yet been
| evolved, is the more tender and beautiful
| aoara ~ fha pOol ot1,ra NJ NOR,